The victim of London’s fourth homicide of the year is being remembered for her bubbly personality, her love for animals, and her talent as a singer.
London police found 26-year-old Josie Glenn’s remains on Oct. 27, days after she was reported missing.
Jami Jaklyn told AM980 her friend was “nice to a fault.”
The two met and became friends through Jaklyn’s hair extension business.
“It’s kind of surreal still to think, because I just pictured the last time we were together, sitting in her kitchen just like a few weeks back,” she explained.
“I just don’t want her last vision of the world to be bad, you know? That’s what goes through my head. She was just so good. She loved people and animals, and I guess I worry about what she went through in those final moments.”
What happened in those final moments remains unclear.
Police officers continued their search for evidence on Tuesday in the Summerside neighbourhood where she was found, and at a nearby drainage pond being emptied at Meadowgate Park, but remained tight-lipped on what they might find.
Twenty-five-year-old Oluwatobi Boyede of London has been charged with second-degree murder and with offering an indignity to a human body in relation to the case. Police haven’t been able to confirm whether a weapon has been found, or whether the suspect and victim knew each other.
On Oct. 21, Glenn advertised her services as a sex worker on backpage.com under the names Amanda and Sabrina.
The posts indicated she’d be at the Sweet City Massage Parlour, where she was listed as an “attendant” under the name Sabrina, located in the Clarke Road and Culver Drive neighbourhood. She was last seen around 3 a.m in that area, the next morning.
Safe Space London, a drop-in support service for sex workers, issued a statement Tuesday saying the organization is grieving the loss of a friend and community member, and that “sex work isn’t what harmed Josie.”
Rather, “it was a murderer, society, and laws/bylaws that make it less safe and less open to do this work.”
The group argues against laws that push sex work underground, and says, “Respecting the human rights of sex workers… starts with considering sex workers to be human beings regardless of external factors, including what they do to earn money.”
Speaking with AM980’s The Andrew Lawton Show, London Abused Women’s Centre executive director Megan Walker described prostitution as being inherently violent.
“If it weren’t violent, people wouldn’t be talking about keeping it safe. It’s violence. And it’s male violence against women, largely,” she explained.
“I think if police officers went into body rub parlours and strip clubs, and started charging men in those establishments with exchanging money for sexual favours as defined by the criminal legislation, and those names were released, we’d see significant cutback in what’s going on.”
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police at 519-661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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